Wednesday 22 August, 2012

Research into local government authority accounts processing by ReadSoft has found that the vast majority are unable to meet the accepted average invoice processing times. In fact only 6% were able to do so.

According to the industry benchmark established by the Hackett Group, every full time equivalent (FTE) should be processing around 45,000 invoices per annum. ReadSoft’s research (based upon freedom of information requests made to 404 UK district and county councils) indicated that during 2010-11, more than 30.6 million invoices where processed by local government authorities. Local government should be able to process this level of documentation with a total of 871 full time employees. In fact the research indicated 2,291 people were employed within council financial departments to process these invoices.

Simon Shorthose, Managing Director, ReadSoft UK says: “The average amount of invoice processing compared to finance staff within local government is less than half the industry benchmark, and the majority show below average performance. This suggests staff are engaging in time consuming and mundane manual processing work, which is inefficient, costly and prone to error.”

Automation of invoice processing within business is a widely accepted response to the issues of poor efficiency. In addition, it can raise levels of transparency and enable AP staff to engage in other less mundane tasks, and with the right technology and appropriate data analysis - add real value to an organisation's bottom line.

“With 65% of respondents recording below average efficiency, staff will be drawn in from other departments to fight end of month fires, balance the books and try to retain control of cashflow. At a time when frontline services are massively threatened, drawing council staff from other, more forward looking service delivery activities and the costs this incurs, is simply unacceptable,” notes Shorthose.